On Praying for Our Children

When I was growing up, I watched my grandma pray on her knees nearly every day. She’d pray for each of her children and for me. She never cared that I was watching or if I could hear what she was saying, which was frequently “Thank you, Lord.” It seems there was never a time that wasn’t the right one to give thanks to the Lord. She taught me to pray the Lord’s Prayer when I was about 4 years old, and she never stopped reminding me to pray. Even when I went off to college and there was an entire country between us, she’d send me letters reminding me to pray.

When I was 21 years old, my grandma died. One of her last wishes was that her children would continue to pray.

Today I’m a mother, and I pray daily for my son. I am not religious, never attend church, and I don’t subscribe to any particular religion, but I do pray for him each and every day. I pray for him as he sleeps. I pray as I rub his back and kiss his little face. I pray for his safety and happiness. I pray that one day when I’m no longer alive, he will be at peace in his life and fulfilled in his relationships. I pray because I’ve experienced otherwise inexplicable miracles in my life that I believe might have arisen from my grandma’s prayers. Some days I believe in God and some days I don’t, and I still pray. I’m clear that I don’t know the answers about religion or spirituality, I can only trust what I’ve experienced as grace as I witnessed it in my grandmother and her life.

How to Pray for Your Children

Prayer is the language of the heart and soul, not necessarily of the mind. Ask yourself, “What are my deepest desires for my children? What do I want them to have that I can’t give them or teach them?

You may have been taught that prayer is related to God or religion, but I would urge you to look at it differently.

Why You Might Pray for Your Children

You might find praying for your children comforting, as there is so much about motherhood that is out of your control. We want the universe and everything within it to conspire on behalf of our children. We want to know that when they are away from us, they are being protected by all of life, by the trees, insects, birds and kind humans. We want providence to meet them and carry them.

Prayer Is for Everyone

You may have been taught that prayer is related to God or religion, but I would urge you to look at it differently. When I pray, I communicate with the unseen grace or power that is active within the universe. I like to tell myself that I have the same power within me that rotates the earth on its axis. Prayer allows you to connect with this power in a mindful way.

There is no way of knowing whether our prayers have any real effect on how our children will experience the world, although there are many scientific studies suggesting that people who pray heal faster, and are happier and healthier than those who don’t. Other studies have shown that a person’s prayers can impact not only his or her own energy field, but also the energy field of people who are in another part of the world. There is a lot of conflicting research on this topic and no clear proof, but there is proof that parents are connected to their children on a molecular level. Regardless, prayer can offer the person praying, in this case, a mother, a sense of peace around her children. And when moms are happy, children are too.

I’m grateful my grandma taught me to pray, because I do it each and every day.